Thai baht falls to four-month low in May
Good news for tourists and expats in Thailand this week as the Thai baht continues to fall. In fact, Thai TV news is reporting the headlines this morning — “Thai baht falls to four-month low” — as it has now hit 29.92 baht to one US dollar, a drop of 2 percent in value this month alone. I for one, along with many other tourists and expats in Thailand, say “Yay”.
Thai baht artificially strong for many months
Let’s face it, up until May, 2013, the Thai baht has been artificially strong for too many months. In fact, most of the baht’s strength has had nothing to do with any stability in the Thai economy, but instead has had more to do with foreign investors speculating on the baht or trying to get a better return on their money by doing some short-term investing in Thailand rather than the US as the US economy has remained worrisome.
With all signs, however, that the US economy has strengthened and with American consumer confidence being up, you can likely expect more foreign investment to be taken out of Thailand in the near future as other markets look more interesting, thus causing the Thai baht to fall in value again.
Meanwhile, the Dollar Index has risen by 0.2% to 83.865, taking it to its highest level in three years. Analysts are saying, if US economic index indicators continue to look strong, that too could very well increase. Yay. Again.
